Epilogue
Sitting in front of the screen of her high-end laptop in Styx, Drew’s fingers flew across the keyboard, launching web search after web search, looking for any information on the woman who was currently the focus of her laser attention.
Nothing. Fuck.
What sucked more than anything? When a data analyst like Brielle Patton, who was obviously as brilliant as Trillian Dacanay, was able to hide you so well, even individuals like The Shadow were unable to find you.
Drew turned her attention to learning more about the illegal body brokering and trafficking operation in Tampa Bay.
There were more than a few players at the top of that food chain, although the most successful body broker appeared to be a man by the name of Fox Gastin.
Gastin ran a considerably large company called CareLabs, which stated its mission was to “connect body donors with researchers who were advancing the science of medicine.”
Sure they were. If that was to be believed, Drew had some organs she could sell.
Interestingly enough, Gastin had apparently run afoul of the law on several occasions, although he had always managed to wiggle his way out of any charges against him.
Body brokering was largely unregulated, with a near-total lack of state and federal oversight of the body industry.
Lovely. None of the other “body donation” businesses Drew found in her rapid search looked as though they were as large or as successful as Gastin’s firm was, however.
She’d have Trill and the Geek Crew do a more thorough investigation later that morning.
What was promising was that CareLabs listed their physical address in a medical complex in North St. Petersburg, about a twenty-five-minute drive from Whimsy.
Bingo. If someone wanted to keep their eye on the facility, a handful of small, unobtrusive motels dotted the area immediately surrounding the complex, as well as a few car rental places.
Which meant that it would also be much easier for Drew and her team to monitor the zone around CareLabs as well, keeping their eyes peeled for anyone else with an unusual interest in the body donation lab.
There were some very big reasons The Shadow had the reputation of being able to find and bring in anyone within the greater seven-county area of Tampa Bay.
Leaning back in her chair, Drew smiled as she heard Dara and Ari accessing the keypad that secured the door to Styx.
Good. They had work to do—Echo and Raven were excellent hunters.
Before the day was over, not only would Drew have every scrap of information Trill could give her on CareLabs, she would also know exactly where her prey had flown to and what precisely it was that she was looking for.
And then, the hunt would begin in earnest.
?ω?ω?ω?
“You are a fucking maniac,” Dani informed India flatly, scraping up another bite of her vegetable omelet.
She, Shaelyn, and Indi had stopped at an out-of-the-way diner on their way out of town so they could talk and get something to eat.
“Girl, those are our friends you are messing with! We care about APS. This subterfuge bullshit with them will not fly!”
“I have every intention of calling Bryn and Riley tomorrow to tell them I’m still in Pinellas County and will be here for a while.
You think I’d investigate an op in their territory and not let them know?
What the hell is wrong with you?” Indi ate a spoonful of a fruit- and granola-laden yogurt.
“Pavel called me late last night after he talked to his wife again. Then Bri called me just as we left APS this morning to confirm the new information Pav had given me, so that’s when I knew it was a go.
Why would I bother them about this unless I knew it was a sure thing?
They have enough going on. Besides,” a mischievous smirk crossed her face, “messing with Drew Hollister is fun. Clearly, The Shadow isn’t used to anyone giving her shit. I, however, am not afraid of her.
“While I won’t hide anything from her or from anyone else in APS—because they are our friends and friends don’t do that to each other, especially in this line of business—that’s not to say I won’t continue to yank her chain when it won’t compromise my investigation or interfere with anything she’s involved in.
The look on that handsome face as we drove away was priceless. ”
Shaelyn sipped her coffee, raising a dark brow at the Infinity operative.
“Fam, there’s a reason Drew Hollister has the rep she does.
Turns out there’s not a person on the dark web—and not just in Purgatory—who doesn’t know who The Shadow is or doesn’t fear her.
If you continue to mess with her, but she happens to catch you?
I’m not sure we could extract you fast enough to get you back under our umbrella before your ass is totally hers. ”
India pooh-poohed the idea. “The only thing I need to do then is make sure she doesn’t catch me.
I’m no threat to anything APS is involved in at the moment.
Furthermore, I am not an idiot. It’s more than apparent Drew Hollister is the most dangerous one of the Armstrong twins and the Seven.
But maybe it’s time she and the rest of the APS badasses learned that some femmes can be just as dangerous as a butch.
“Now,” she waved her hand in dismissal, “evidently, this Fox Gastin from a ‘body donation facility’,” she quirked her fingers in quote marks, rolling her eyes, “called CareLabs here in St. Petersburg is reportedly the biggest illegal body trafficker in the area. They have flown under the radar forever. And Gastin is a fucking tool, from what I’ve found out so far.
“Svetlana’s aunt and uncle—whom I’ve known almost as long as I’ve known Pavel and Svetlana—live in Palm Harbor, which is about twenty, thirty minutes north of St. Pete.
When Svetlana’s aunt died from an unexpected heart attack last year, the family made arrangements to donate her remains because Lena had always insisted she wanted to further the cause of science. ” Her lavender eyes narrowed.
“I guess this Fox Gastin was all Mr. Sympathetic, ‘We’ll treat your aunt with the respect she deserves,’ blah, blah, blah.
Asshole. Instead of going to a legitimate medical facility, however, Lena’s body was sold by Gastin to a processing plant that stripped it for parts, which were then sold on the open market.
The family may have never found out anything was amiss if Svetlana hadn’t kept pressing them to tell her which medical facility had received the donation, which, of course, CareLabs couldn’t do.
Their story kept changing, then they kept putting her off, which triggered all sorts of suspicion on Svetlana’s part.
Pav finally called me, I got Bri involved, and I’ve dug up one hot mess so far. ”
Dani signaled for the check. “And when you learned our ‘Rob Vonn’ investigation would bring us to the same area where this shit was going down, that was it for you. No wonder you volunteered so fast.”
“That was it for me,” Indi agreed. “None of this is news to you, though. But you had better believe I’m going to get to the bottom of this.
The more I learn about CareLabs, the more livid I get.
Pavel and his family mean more to me than almost anyone else outside of Infinity and my own family.
The hell I’m not going to do everything in my power to shut those fuckers down and bury them six feet deep.
And it’s not just them, I found out. The whole illegal body brokering and trafficking industry in general is beyond obscene.
Trust me, I am more than aware of what we have going on at home.
For Pavel, though, I can spare a few days to get his wife and her family some justice, now that I have more than just suspicion to go on. ”
“Hon, we love Pavel. You do what you have to do,” Shaelyn told her as the three of them stood up.
“Just pull APS into the loop so the Armstrongs are aware of what’s going on.
” Indi nodded. “And, for God’s sake, stop provoking Drew Hollister.
If you get caught in a rash of shit, I don’t have the time to come back down here and save your ass from her. ”
The Infinity operative grinned, her lavender eyes twinkling.
“You know she probably loves it. How many people do you know who’ve been able to stand up to her over the years?
Besides, don’t you think she’s cute?” Groaning, Shae shook her head as they headed for the door.
“I’ll give you the address of where I’m going to be staying, so you can plug it into your GPS and drop me off.
I need to get checked in, get settled, look up some stuff online, then hit the streets tonight and run reconnaissance around the facility.
“I have a feeling that what I’m going to find is going to be way worse than we’ve even anticipated. When Mr. Fox Gastin is finally a grease stain under the sole of my boot, I’ll breathe a sigh of relief. And you’d better believe I won’t stop until he’s no longer a threat to anyone.”
?ω?ω?ω?
Wearing a lightweight blue-black jacket, a dark knit cap completely covering her golden hair so the color couldn’t be seen, Indi stood in a deep shadow across the street from the complex where CareLabs was located and watched as a panel truck pulled out of their loading dock and turned toward the main road.
“What kind of deliveries do you need to make at this time of night?” she mused as the truck disappeared.
“Surely body donations aren’t picked up from hospitals and funeral homes at such a late hour or delivered to medical facilities and schools at eleven p.m., are they?
I call bullshit.” Thinking for a minute, she pulled her phone out of the back of her jeans and hit a number.
“Brielle,” she said in a low voice, speaking rapidly.
“It’s late, you’re probably sleeping, and this can wait until morning, but I need you to see if you can find out exactly how and when the bodies that are donated to CareLabs are transported.
How are they picked up, how are they delivered to wherever they are going, and what kind of schedule are they on?
Call me tomorrow the minute you find anything.
” Indi ended the call and stared at the facility a final time.
A tingle abruptly ran down the back of her neck.
Suddenly alert, Indi stepped back further into the shadows as she looked around until she verified no one else was around.
Goose ran over my grave. Out of the blue, an image of Drew Hollister’s handsome face inexplicably rose up in front of her.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she chastised herself, snorting as she put her phone into her back pocket.
“There is no way Drew can know I’m here in St. Petersburg, at least not yet.
“I realize the world thinks The Shadow is omnipotent—and maybe she is—but tonight is not the night, and I am not the one. There’s too much work to be done right now for me to play with a sexy but dangerous butch, who has no idea she’s finally met her femme match.
” Moving lightly but rapidly through the drizzle, India let the shadows of darkness wrap themselves around her as she disappeared into the night.
?ω?ω?ω?
Pulling the hood of her midnight blue hoodie more firmly over her head as she melted deeper into the darkness, the corner of Drew Hollister’s mouth tilted slightly as she watched the delicate golden-haired, lavender-eyed security operative slide her phone into the back pocket of her jeans before moving unobtrusively through the misty drizzle.
“Well, hello there, India Lunastar,” The Shadow whispered, feeling a heat she had never known before as she watched the femme she knew was meant to be hers.
“Or should I say…Cyb3rmoon?”